Game Mechanics

Setup: 8 Goodies vs 3 Baddies vs 1 Indy (NPC//Non-Playable-Character). "Two factions vying for control over the MafioSphere. A mysterious entity known simply as "The Collector" wants the sphere for itself. All wield immense magical power. Who will be victorious?"

Rules

Night Phase has 2 sub-phases corresponding to two different types of abilities.

Phase 1 - Movement phase - all actions which involve changing positions in the roster take effect first

Movement actions (marked with (MOVE)) resolve using Attunement. Each night players submitting movement actions have to submit in the same PM a number between 1 and 100. Each night, the Sphere will attune itself to a random number between 1 and 100. The order in which actions take place is determined by how close the number they chose is to the attuned number for the night. If a player guesses the number exactly, they are perfectly attuned and will be immune to death that night. Any ties in distance to the attuned number will be resolved by host's coinflip. Applies to Teleport, Ninjutsu, Graveyard Shift/Walking Dead, Wind Elemental Action - which are marked with (MOVE) .

Roster positions go around in a circle from 1 to 12 and 12 is considered adjacent to 1 to complete the circle (i.e. the list wraps around on the ends)

Normal actions can be affected by channeling (marked with BOOST) or not. Channeling targeting a player using a channel-able action may increase or decrease the power (aka radius) of the ability used by that player or fail if that player is not acting. Channeler is the one choosing if he wants to increase or decrease. Multiple Chaneller's targeting the same roster position with add their effects (e.g. Channeler with increase and Channeler with decrease target the same position successfully, no effect).

Ties: all in the tie are lynched.

What shows:

NP: New roster positions (but not the actions that led to them), successful NK (role of killer and target of NK except for Martyr when it shows both players that died / were saved), successful RID Kills (assasination), banishing, successful healing against a NK/RID Kill (will show the NK/RID Kill attempt), successful resurrection

DP: Lynched player and role (but not S/N/E/W), funerals, anchors, banishing

1. ONLY actions marked with (BOOST) can be boosted / can be changed by channelling energy towards the position of the one using a BOOST action. In proper English, perhaps "BOOST-able" would've been a more clear explanation.

2. Boosts can be negative or positive. Rule of thumb: channel energy TO that position -> positive effect/"boost", channel energy FROM that position -> negative effect.

3. Radius of effect means how many adjacent places are affected by an action. E.g. Healing has a radius of 0 (1 spot) at 100% chances or a radius of 1 (3 spots) at 33% chance each.

5. Boost positive adds +1 to radius of the action's effect, negative subtracts -1 from the radius. Multiple boosts on same position add (mathematically) which is why a positive and negative boost cancel each other out.

Role Description

Sphere Guardians - WinCon: Protect the sphere. (All Onyx Hand members are killed.) 8 Players. Those with similar abilities (Teleporter / Channeler) will be marked for the host only, they won't know their name from their role PMs and it won't be shown if lynched, however they cannot be killed without their complete name.

1-2. Southern Teleporter & Northern Teleporter (Wind):

Teleport (MOVE) - Any night can select a location in the roster and teleport to that location, swapping their position with the player currently at that location

3. Healer (Water):

Healing (BOOST) - Each night selects a location on the roster. If the player at that location is killed, he is saved instead. Can opt to target a range of +/- 1, (so 3 positions in the roster) but that reduces it's effectiveness to 33% chance to work.

4. Martyr (Fire)

Bond of Fire (passive/automatic) - If the Martyr is NKed at night, he will also kill his attacker. Healing may still prevent the Martyr or his attacker from being killed. Does not apply to RID or methods of killing other than the group NK. NK shows both targets but will not show which was the Martyr.

Supernova (BOOST) - Any night, the Martyr may choose to overload himself with fire energy, causing an explosion which will kill himself and any adjacent players on the roster within radius 1. Healing will not save the Martyr from this, but any secondary targets can be healed.

5. Priest (Spirit) - A manipulator of spirit(life) energy, can use at most 1 ability per night, but can use ODTG any day.

Graveyard Shift (MOVE) - Each night, can either swap roster positions with a dead player or move a dead player up or down in the roster by +/- 1. Has 50% chance to learn elemental affinity of dead player.

Resurrection (BOOST) - Any night, targets a position on the roster, and if there is a dead player in that roster spot, dead player is brought back to life at the END of the night. This ability requires channeled energy in order to successfully revive a dead player (will fail otherwise). Cannot revive someone who was not already dead at the beginning of the night.

Funeral - ODTG, only during a day, can hold a funeral for a dead player, entering their body into the ground. That dead player may no longer be the target of any abilities for the rest of the game and their position in the roster becomes permanently fixed. (Shows in day post)

6. Oracle (Spirit) - Has the ability to see the elemental affinities of others.

Observe Affinity (BOOST) - Each night, chooses a position on the roster. Learns the elemental affinities of all players that are currently within +/- 2 of that spot in the roster, in a random order. The Ninja and Collector will appear to the Oracle as whichever element is active on that particular night.

Banish - May sacrifice to banish the Collector from the game. Collector will no longer occupy a roster spot. May not be used prior to night 3. Will kill the Oracle afterwards. May be used during the day or night and even the same cycle as regular night action.

7-8. Eastern Channeler & Western Channeler (Earth) - Although not very powerful on their own, Channelers can produce powerful results when combined with other roles by increasing or decreasing the power/radius of abilities marked with BOOST. Can use both actions (1 day action, 1 night action) the same cycle.

Anchor - Each day, may use their energy (vote weight goes to 0) to bind a living player at targeted position in the roster, preventing them from changing positions for the following night. Any actions taken that would cause the affected player to change positions will fail. A player may not be anchored two days in a row, even if anchored by a different Channeler. (Shows in day post.)

Channeling - Each night, chooses a location on the roster and can channel energy to/from that player, increasing or decreasing the power(radius) of their ability for that night. (Does not show in night post.)

The Onyx Hand - Have BTSC. WinCon: Gain control of the sphere (all sphere guardians dead). Have a NK targeting a roster position (not a player) and must specify which member is carrying out the NK.

9. Ninja (Wind / Fire) - A stealthy assassin with improved Teleport abilities. Each night can use one of two abilities, each with their own Element (Wind or Fire). If he does not act, he reverts to his default affinity for Wind.

Ninjutsu (MOVE) (Wind) - Same as regular Teleport except he specifies two positions on the roster and the players at those positions will be swapped.

Assassination (BOOST) (Fire) - Any night may choose a position in the roster and name a role, if that role is located at that position in the roster, the player dies. Must include South/North/East/West for Teleporters / Channelers in the RID attempt.

10. Binder (Earth) - A Channeler sided with the Onyx Hand. Cannot use Channeling two nights in a row.

Anchor - Each day, may use their energy to bind a living player at targeted position in the roster, preventing them from changing positions for the following night. Any actions taken that would cause the affected player to change positions will fail. **A player may not be anchored two days in a row, even if anchored by a different Channeler. (Shows in day post.)

Channeling (BOOST) - Any night but not two in a row, chooses a location on the roster and can channel energy to/from that player, increasing or decreasing the power (radius) of their ability for that night. (Does not show in night post.)

Walking Dead (MOVE) - Each night, can either swap roster positions with a dead player or move a dead player up or down in the roster by +/- 1. Has 50% chance to learn elemental affinity of dead player.

Corpse Explosion (BOOST) - Dead player at targeted spot in the roster explodes, killing everyone in close proximity. May not be used two nights in a row, and may not be used on the same corpse more than once. This ability requires channeled energy in order to work.

12. The Collector - Independent - NPC (Non-Playable Character) WinCon: Collect at least one of each type of elemental energy (Wind, Water, Earth, Fire). Spirit may be used as a wildcard / as any type which will be randomly selected at time of collection as one of the elements it does not already have.

NPC RULES:

The Collector is an NPC and not assigned to a player. It will still occupy a spot on the roster and may be killed or targeted by abilities, but it does not participate in the lynch and may not vote or be voted for.

The Collector's actions for Night 1 will be determined randomly, but on all following nights its actions may be directed by the player most attuned to the sphere on the previous night. Player in control of the Collector for the next night will be informed via PM at the end of the previous night. If no players have attuned or if invalid actions are given, the Collector will default to random actions.

The Collector does not need to be killed in order for each faction to achieve its win condition, but if the Collector collects at least one of each elemental type, the game will end and both factions lose.

Elemental Affinity - Each day/night cycle, the Collector will take on the elemental form of whatever element it has collected the most of at the time. If it has collected an equal amount of two or more elements, it may choose which of those elements to use. Collector will appear as that elemental affinity each night.

NPC Actions:

Energy Drain - Each night, targets a position on the roster and drains the energy of the player at that position. Any use of their ability that night is cancelled and Collector gains elemental energy of the corresponding type. Will have no effect if the same player is drained more than once. Must be used each night. The Collector's Energy Drain ability overrides all other action phase abilities except the Onyx Hand's group NK.(Shows in night post)

Elemental Action - Depending on the elemental affinity for the night/day phase

Water Elemental Action(BOOST) - Can negate one attack on player at target spot on roster (Save).

Wind Elemental Action(MOVE) - Can swap itself with any location on the roster

Earth Elemental Action - Channeling (same ability as a Channeler)

Fire Elemental Action (BOOST) - Can kill player at target spot on the roster. Will not kill self.

Host's Summary

Comments come from the hosts' PoV and as such, express personal biased opinions.

Night 1: "Where Eagles Dare" was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the movie inspired by the fact that both goodie teleporters dared to swap in order to control the Collector, even though that put their RIDs at risk of being narrowed down if swaps did not interfere with each other (which is exactly what happened). Maurice swapped with a baddie and was instantly narrowed down. I am glad I added the North/South/East/West part of the game otherwise the RID would have been over powered if successful each night from N2 forward. Not a lot of channeling happened because Marq chose to use a negative boost and the other channeler was inactive. Control of the collector goes to Krystal (19 versus sphere drawing 26). Plas got some interesting spy results, despite not being in the list as he wanted. Goodies had 2 inactives that received a warning and were replaced 24 hours later during Day 1, a big thanks to Plasmid, Insaner and Flamebirde for jumping in under short notice. Baddies managed to remove the Healer from the game, still leaving the Martyr as the goodies only weapon during the night.

Day 1: "The Usual Martyr" hinted at the controversy around the lynch candidate. During the day, SH's reaction to plas's thoughts was a bit over the top, as was Hirk's reactions over-defensive. After all, in a game where not a lot of info can be inferred from the NP or via actions, thoughts and plans were all that goodies should have talked about. Both goodie channelers anchored (why?) and lost their vote for the day, so obviously the voting was controlled by baddies. Takari outed herself by asking ONLY about Priest's actions and Marq hinted a bit too much as well, giving baddies too many RIDs at once. Insaner's idea of a tie lynch was rejected, though the pairs plasmid-SH and Insaner-Hirk would have each gotten a baddie out at the expense of only one goodie. That was a pity, as he had narrowed down all 3 baddies among 4 candidates and reasoned correctly on goodie hints so far.

Night 2: "Wrong Fork in the Road" hinted at the lucky RID kill. Baddies wanted to RID Kill maurice, but they tried the wrong role on him (North vs South). They wanted to RID position 4 as North Teleporter and boost positively the RID killer so that he can target #3, #4, #5. Their plan succeeded, however the RID on maurice failed. Krystal teleported in that area only to get killed instead. Without the Martyr and baddies not using corpse explosion there was no mass-killing. Goodie channelers did not affect this, Marq did not act and Flame boosted SH positively which made SH's boost work on positions #11 and #9 as well (nice chain effect), but no result since 11 was dead and 9 was a teleporter that had no boostable action. Plasmid got a view at the rest of the roster, making out max info between the two nights. Collector got his second element (Wind), though maurice was not affected by the drain since movement phase had already happened before the drain happened. In fact, maurice got control of the Collector for N3, but since it had no Fire/Spirit/Water collected, there was no way to heal or kill for the goodie in control of the Collector.

Day 2: "By Our Powers Combined" hinted at the end result of the day where once again goodies failed to lynch a baddie. Plasmid's results exposed a baddie pairing with a goodie, making all goodies trusting his result able to narrow down a baddie from their perspective. Unfortunately 1 goodie not voting and the other voting separately meant the doom for the goodies, with a second mislynch. Baddies anchored a target ripe for RID Kill while Takari buried Insaner (why?). The baddie flash-vote was almost a final blow, but I let the night play since there was a way for baddies to try too much and get screwed by the Collector's actions controlled by a goodie.

Night 3: "A Boost Too Far" hinted at the fact that goodies ran all game to try to resurrect someone, never succeeding. SH chose to minimize the risks and only use a safe NK on the anchored player to make 3 vs 2 and try to maximize the chances of getting the Collector for the next night. Random org failed the baddies yet again. Takari tried to resurrect someone (Krystal), but the Collector's boost (intended for her by maurice) was negated by the baddies swapping the Collector with Hirkala, making the Collector try to drain himself to no avail. Goodie channelers would have been very efficient day 2 in anchoring known baddies. The Martyr would have been very efficient in deterring the baddies to use extra kills.

The end. As goodies have no way of winning any lynch and no offensive actions from their part or the Collector. Overall the game was lost on both days by goodies and won brilliantly by baddies with their night actions.

Baddies have 3 vs 2 and can't lose the lynch (they've been pretty active so far) making it 3 vs 1 during the next night. Control of the Collector was won by maurice for N4, but he is dead so back to the host. Collector has wind and earth and I random.org-ed a teleport for N4 that cannot boost a resurrect even if the Priest is alive at the end of the day. Even if baddies manage to NK one of their own, they still have majority 2 vs 1 in D4. So, mathematically, baddies win!

I've thought about MVP and it goes to Sparrowhawk for coordinating the baddie actions with just enough risk to get the victory. Special mentions for Insaner for narrowing all baddies on D1 and proposing tie lynches and Plasmid for maximizing his spy result and giving goodies a chance during lylo.

Thank you all for playing and I do hope we'll get to revisit these mechanics again (kudos to Sinistral for them).